Ted Kennedy: Let’s make Caroline a Senator because she’s rich

posted at 3:40 pm on December 9, 2008 by Allahpundit

In recent days the Massachusetts senator has called Gov. David A. Paterson and Senator Charles E. Schumer, as well as Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, who took over last month as head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee when Mr. Schumer stepped down.

Mr. Kennedy’s message, according to Democratic aides who were not authorized to discuss the conversations, is that Ms. Kennedy — backed by the Kennedy family’s extensive fund-raising network — would have the wherewithal to run back-to-back costly statewide races without having to seek help from Mr. Paterson or Mr. Schumer.

The ability to raise significant money is a key concern for Mr. Paterson, who has been deluged from every direction by politicians interested in the seat, which the governor is expected to fill early next year. Whoever is chosen will have to run in 2010 and again two years later.

Believe it or not, this is only the second most offensive pro-Caroline pitch of the day; Ruth Marcus’s ineffably humiliating tribute to the “fairy tale” appeal of our “tragic national princess” takes the prize. See Ross Douthat for a reply, or Richard Bradley at Slate for a primer on Caroline’s career. Not much of substance, not much by way of fraternizing with the hoi polloi, but loads of “ceremonial” duties aimed at glorifying the family name. There’s no purer example of noblesse oblige in American life that I can think of. Why not hand her a Senate seat? Elections are for proles.

Remember, Teddy also reportedly wants his wife to inherit — and that is the right word — his own seat once he retires, so at this point the number of Kennedys in the Senate is capped mainly by their own reproductive capacity. I’ve mentioned this before, but I still can’t quite get over a guy who campaigned against the Clintons’ dynastic politics hooking up with a family that considers itself a quasi-congenital aristocracy. They need each other, I guess: The Kennedys get “authenticity” and popular vogue from Obama’s race and mass appeal while The One gets some extra polish on his halo from being crowned rightful heir to JFK. What a joke to have the ultimate self-made man, who beat centuries of prejudice, followed to the Senate by a female dauphin installed in a sinecure. They’re like two sides of Hillary, split.

In some parts of the world, personal wealth as a condition for public office is not so far fetched.

In the Philippines, a nation where political corruption is far worse than in the USA (even Chicago), movie stars are considered very popular as political candidates. Having made their fortunes outside the political system, the conventional wisdom is that they cannot be bought.

Another Kennedy?… Yuck!!!!…. Put the seat on eBay to the highest bidder like the Dems do in Illinois…. Looks like the Hope ‘n Change Party is giving us little to “hope” for, not even the “Change” in our pockets….

Caroline Kennedy is almost as famous as Rosie or Oprah or Tom Cruise. She lives in NY, and is well-known for being a housewife on Long Island and not being a public figure. What more could NY voters possibly want? This is a no-brainer.

Isn’t it amazing that Sarah wasn’t experienced enough to be VP after being a Governor of Alaska, but Caroline Kennedy is more than qualified to be a Senator? She’s done nothing but being born to a former President and handing out money to various charities, etc. Well, I guess that is one qualification for being a Senator – giving away other people’s money. Something needs to be done to these Democrats – scandals all over the place and they say “so what, we’re not going anywhere – you take a hike”. Something needs to be done.

Isn’t it amazing that Sarah wasn’t experienced enough to be VP after being a Governor of Alaska, but Caroline Kennedy is more than qualified to be a Senator? She’s done nothing but being born to a former President and handing out money to various charities, etc. Well, I guess that is one qualification for being a Senator – giving away other people’s money. Something needs to be done to these Democrats – scandals all over the place and they say “so what, we’re not going anywhere – you take a hike”. Something needs to be done.

suzyk on December 9, 2008 at 4:00 PM

I’ve asked you not to bring that up and I’m not going to tell you again. They are not even remotely comparable, Sarah is a Republican Governor and Caroline is an inexperienced … uh … uh … well she’s a Kennedy, man, a Kennedy!

Caroline Kennedy is no doubt more prepared – in terms of her base of knowledge about national politics, her comfort with the ways of Washington, etc. – to be a United States Senator than Sarah Palin was to be Vice President

Why does she even want the seat? She’s always avoided doing…well anything really. At least Biden’s son had the decency to not take his dad’s seat by appointment. He let dad work the governor to appoint a caretaker until he can run for it in 2010. That’s at least marginally better than this.

If the woman had enough qualifications to wash her own clothes or clean her own house she would realize that she is not even anywhere close to qualified for High Office. An inherited political aristocracy is mysterious intolerable.

Caroline Kennedy deserves the Senate seat because of the DIVINE RIGHT OF POLITICAL DYNASTIES–no experience or elections are needed here. This is like the Princess Elizabeth taking over after the English King died. To hell with the peasants and their droll elections–let them eat grass!
***
Camelot II will be back–along with the Messiah’s rolling back global warming and ocean rise.
***
John Bibb

Caroline was 3 years younger than I was when her father was assinated. It was the worst thing in the world at the time, seeing his kids on tv (being a kid myself). But come one, “Camelot” is over. She hasn’t the skills to take on this responsibility, unless all she has to do is choose the right finger foods, smile for the society pages and drum up cash for her party. I’d like to think Hillary did a little more than that.

We used to have little Caroline’s cousin as Lt. Governor in MD. What a santimonious idiot. When she later ran for governor the prospects were so scary the predictable left leaning voter base elected the first republican in forty years.

No way, no how is U.S. Sen. Charles Shumer going to allow another celebrity female to usurp his goal of being New York’s high profile senator, a role he still thinks was stolen from him when Hillary ran and won in 2000. The only way Caroline gets the seat is if she promises to hide in a closet for the next two years and never make an appearance in front of the television cameras without getting Chuckie’s OK.

I have no problem with people that come from the same families getting elected if they are qualified.

My friend could rebuild a computer by the time he was 10 (at a time when most people still didn’t have access to their own computer) because his dad worked extensively with computers. He’s now gone into computers (at the same company as his father). Is this a dynasty or is it a case of someone gaining skills because they were able to gain exposure to something due to their parent’s job?

If Caroline Kennedy showed a knack for leadership and had clear policy proposals and plans for what needs to be done once she gets into office (even if they are crappy Democrat plans), I’d feel a lot better about it.

There are a lot of politician’s kids in this country. There are a lot of millionaires (and their kids) in this country. I would be willing to bet that most of them wouldn’t make good senators.

Not that it makes any difference. They’ll appoint who they appoint and that’s that.

Oh great, now both she & Ted can distort the facts together. Have you ever heard this woman talk? I’d call it BORING and not to be mistaken as a serious intellect, but then the whole family is IQ challenged in my opinion. That’s why they qualify for more Darwin Awards than any other family in America. Hey Princess, you’re no Sarah Palin. You aren’t even a Hillary.

This is nothing more than political payback. I have nothing against Caroline Kennedy, but–as a New Yorker–I don’t want someone who’s never run nor never been elected to political office to represent me.

Latest scuttlebutt is that Rep King has thrown his hat into the ring. Imagine a staunch Repub replacing HIll!!

The Democrats are the party of hereditary privilege. She’s done nothing to merit being a United States Senator other than being a member of the lucky sperm club. When Mel Carnahan was posthumously elected senator from Missouri his wife Jean was appointed to replace him. I’d have less of a problem if Bill Clinton was appointed to replace his wife than with Caroline Kennedy. At least Billy Jeff has a resume as governor and president. Like Jean Carnahan, he’d be close to the policy stances of his spouse and more likely express the wishes of New York voters in the last election. It’s not like Bill would be any more or less liberal than Caroline.

When did Senate seats become hereditary? Of course with this Democratic Congress, one can never tell. Maybe they should change the name of the Senate to The House Of Lords.

GarandFan on December 9, 2008

Well played; service ace. And why not? That’s how they view themselves. It would certainly be more honest. We don’t need Senators who can think or legislate responsibly as long as they have the right pedigree.